Etui



May 13, 1969 G. LANG Filed April 19, 1967 INVENTOR cream; Larva BY QCUM UMA ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,443,615 ETUI Georg Lang, Scliwaig, near Nuremberg, Germany, assignor to Progresswerk Wornlein 8: Zellhofer, Nuremberg, Germany, a firm of Germany Filed Apr. 19, 1967, Ser. No. 632,062 Claims priority, application Germany, Apr. 23, 1966, P 39,266 Int. Cl. A45c 13/04 US. Cl. 150-29 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An etui having two frames hingedly connected together wtih the hinge members of one frame slidable relative to the shanks of said frame to avoid bulging of the cover material when the case is open.

Etui and like cases, which are made of leather, artificial leather and other appropriate materials, have a frame comprising two rigid members in the form of hoops or U-shape members having their ends hingedly connected together to permit the two hoops to be moved between open and closed position.

Such etuis and like cases are used for instance for carrying writing utensils, sewing materials, cosmetics, makeup and the like.

When such an etui is closed the fold of the material used for covering the case lies tightly around the ends of the hoops and the back of the case. However, when the etui is opened the covering material at the back of the case forms an outward bulge due to the distance between the points of attachment of the covering material to the two hoops having become shorter. The inherent stiffness of the covering material resists the formation of this arching fold and tends to reclose the case.

It is therefore impossible to place such an etui opened out flat on a surface because it tends to partly reclose itself. When a shopkeeper desires to show the inside of the etui in a shop window or show case he must rest the half open etuiv on the shanks of the hoops.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an etui or like case in which the covering material does not form an unsightly and undesirable bulge at the back when the etui is opened.

Another object of the invention to provide an etui in which each of the shanks of one of the hoops has a hinge member which is movable lengthwise of the shank.

Still another object of the invention to provide an etui in which an element carrying a hinge member has the form of a bar slidably held in the shank of the hoop.

Other features, details and advantages of the invention will be understood from the following description of a number of preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows part of an etui when closed,

FIG. 2 shows part of an etui of conventional kind when opened,

FIG. 3 is a side view of an open etui in which the shanks of one hoop are slidably extendable,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating one manner in which the hinge member may be held and guided in the hoop,

FIG. 5 is a different embodiment of the guide means to that shown in FIG. 4,

FIG. 6 is a cross section of a double U-section hoop for a deep etui, and

FIG. 7 is a cross section of a hoop for a shallow etui.

The material 1 used for covering an etui bears tightly against the frame halves or hoops 3, 4 at the back of the frame when the etui is closed (see FIG. 1). However,

3,443,615 Patented May 13, 1969 when the hoops 3 and 4 of the frame are opened the distance between the points of attachment 5 of the covering material 1 to the hoops 3 and 4 is reduced and the material then forms an outwardly projecting bulge 6 (see FIG. 2).

In an etui according to the invention (see FIG. 3) the covering material 1 continues to bear tightly around the hoops 3, 7 at the hinge 8 formed by an eyelet 10 and a hinge pin 10a, and to embrace the back tightly when closed. To this end a member 9 which carries the eyelet 10 is movably mounted in the hoop 7 of the frame and, in the illustrated example, it is longitudinally slidable therein. It is guided either by a web 11 (see FIG. 4) or by pins 12 (see FIG. 5) fitted in the open channel section of the hoop 7 which faces the inside of the case. The web 11 may consist for instance of a metal or plastics material strip which may be soldered, welded or adhesively fixed in position. The use of pins 12 made of the same materials and fitted or pressed into holes in the hoop likewise serve the purpose. The member 9 has the form of a flat bar.

Etuis which are deep are already known in which the hoop members of the frame have a cross section comprising a U-section facing the inside of the case and a second U-section facing the outside, the latter being adapted to receive the edge of the covering material, such as leather. In such an etui as shown in FIG. 6 the hoop 7 consists of two U-section parts 13 and 14 connected by a common flange 15, the U-section of part 13 facing the inside and that of part 14 the outside of the case. Part 14 serves for securing the covering material 1 by pinching it into the U-section with a strip 16 made for'instance of plastics material. The bar 9 carrying the eyelet is guided in part 13 of the hoop by a web 17 (formed similarly to the web 11) or a plurality of pins similarly arranged to the pins 12 as shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a section of an embodiment suitable for thin etuis. A hoop 18 which has a channel section with its open side facing outwards serves for securing the covering material 1, for instance by means of an inserted plastics cord 16 as in the previous embodiment. For guiding the member 9, the hoop 18 is provided on the inside of the etui with a supplementary channel 19 made fast thereto in any convenient manner.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments that have been described, nor is it limited to hoops provided with flat-bar shaped hinge members with an eyelet for a hinge pin, as the hinge members could form parts of a knuckle joint.

I claim:

1. In an etui, in combination:

two complementary frame halves each having a pair of parallel shanks;

a pair of two-part hinge means hingedly joining respective ones of said shanks for pivoting said frame halves between an etui closing position and the etui opening position, each of the hinge parts being carried on one of said shanks and each shank of one of the frame halves being comprised of two members slidable relative to each other so as automatically to increase the effective lengths of the respective shanks when the frame halves are in the etui opening position.

2. The etui according to claim 1 wherein one of the members of each one of the respective shanks has a U- shaped cross-section and the respective other shank member carries the hinge part and is lengthwise slidable in said one shank member.

3. The etui according to claim 2 and further comprising guide means guiding said other shank member in the channel defined by said one shank member.

4. The etui according to claim 3 wherein said guide means comprise a web bridging the open side of each one shank member.

5. The etui according to claim 3 wherein said guide means comprise pins extending across the open side of said one shank member for retaining the other shank member therein.

6. The etui according to claim 1 wherein one of the members of each of the respective shanks has a U-shaped cross-section and the respective other shank member carries the hinge part and is lengthwise sli'dable in said one shank member, and wherein a second member of U- shaped cross-section is secured to the shank member of U-shaped cross-section for receiving an etui cover in the channel defined by said second member.

7. The etui according to claim 6 wherein the open side of the U-shaped second member faces oppositely to the open side of said shank member of U-shaped crosssection.

8. The etui according to claim 7 wherein a web bridges the open side of the shank member of U-shaped cross-section for retaining therein the shank member carrying the respective hinge part.

9. The etui according to claim 6 wherein said second member is disposed juxtaposed to the open side of the shank member of U-shaped cross-section and a base web of the second member closes said open side for retaining therein the shank member carrying the hinge part.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 440,254 4/1912 France.

DONALD F. NORTON, Primary Examiner. 

